Working politically amongst professional knowledge landscapes to implement gender-sensitive physical education reform

Abstract

Background: As the conversation regarding gender and physical education has evolved, a great many suggestions have been offered that reflect ways of designing more gender sensitive environments. The problem now turns the transformation of theoretical suggestions into real change in the practices of schools.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use Clandinin and Connelly's theories of professional knowledge landscapes; and sacred, secret and cover stories to analyze one physical education teacher's political maneuvering through her patriarchal school culture in support of gender sensitive physical education.

Participants and setting: One female physical educator teaching at an upper-middle class, primarily White, high school (ages 13–18) in the Southeastern United States.

Research design: The study used interpretivist, non-participant observation to study this teacher's thinking and behaviors in her local context.

Data collection: Data were collected during 20 school days over five months through interviews, conversations and observations of lessons and other areas of the school. Each day, one semi-structured formal interview was conducted, at least two class periods were observed and field notes were recorded, informal conversations took place before, during and after those lessons, and observations were conducted in other areas of the physical education program and school.

Data analysis: Data in the interview and observation transcripts that reflected the teachers' efforts to stimulate change in the PE program or the elements of what she viewed as gender sensitive physical education were given initial codes that represented their content. Similarly coded data was merged through several iterations and eventually become macro-themes that represented this teachers' political tactics and her version of gender-sensitive PE.

Findings: The teacher strategically understood the sacred gender story of the school and employed numerous cover stories to protect her secret story of gender that she was trying to advance. These were most evident in her efforts to secure permission and resources to conduct a new trial PE program and her attempts to spread it beyond her own teaching. Findings also indicate four elements of her gender-sensitive teaching, including: curricular diversity, safe spaces to learn physicality, social issues of health, and integrating community resources.

Conclusions: The findings are situated in broader theory and literature on curriculum addressing social issue of the body, the possibilities and limits of coeducation, and the politics of school change.